IMAP Protocol

NZServers provides the server facility for you to use POP3 or IMAP protocol The pricing assumes you have the expertise required to use and maintain […]

NZServers provides the server facility for you to use POP3 or IMAP protocol
The pricing assumes you have the expertise required to use and maintain an email client.
We have noticed over time that some people do not understand how an email client works by the support requests made.

The increased speed of broadband has enabled people to use the cloud more extensively.
The number of devices we use from smartphones to desktop computers means we want the information to be the same on all devices.

IMAP syncs many devices, making life easier, provided you fully understand how IMAP works.
All the promotional brochures and sales techniques are designed to make IMAP look easy to use, but in reality, there are traps involved.
The traps depend on what software you use to access and send emails known as the email client.

House Keeping IMAP

Over time, you can accumulate a large amount of emails stored on the server when using IMAP. It’s important to either archive or tidy emails from time to time since all of the message headers in these folders are synced each time you check for new mail.

Keeping these folders with fewer emails (around 1,000 or so messages at a time) can help ensure speedy retrieval of your new messages without affecting the server’s performance.

Commoditised Pricing

Email hosting is a two-way street.
As an end user, you can’t assume the server will take care of every aspect of your email client as that is impossible.
The email client talks to the server to retrieve, sync and send emails.
With so many email clients your expertise is required to look after the email client.
If you do not have the expertise required, then you are reliant on support from either the firm or manufacturer who sold you the email software.
The relationship between the server and the email client is dependant on speed and the intervals of time your computer accesses the server.

Example: – If you go on holiday and use a Smartphone to access your emails while you are away. While you are away, you send and receive emails.
Your computer at the office is powered down while you are away.
You return back to your work computer using a slow connection. Your computer has to catch up on the activities by retrieving and synching emails. Depending on the volume and connection speed this process will take a while.

Smartphones have storage constraints. Instead of storing all your emails only say 15 days are stored on your smartphone.

If you have a desktop computer, most IMAP emails are stored on the local computer and the server. This setup required a synchronised process.
If you have a slow computer connection IMAP may present problems depending on the volume of emails, you keep on the server.

Keeping a large number of emails could increase the chances of problems using IMAP.

Most email clients have an option where you can archive emails onto your local computer. This helps reduced the volume of emails the server has to handle, preventing issues in syncing large volumes of data.

Mixing the two protocols

We have people who mix POP3 and IMAP between computers which can create issues depending on how many days you elect to leave on the server if you use POP3 with IMAP.

In a nutshell, do not mix POP3 and IMAP.

Frequency of checking emails

Every time you check the server using IMAP the server and client have to ensure all the information is correct.
The more emails you have, the longer this process takes, depending on the speed of your connection.
If you check your emails more than 60 times per hour, the server may block your IP address.

IMAP usage

One of the most support intensive areas of running a server is emails.
A lot of web hosting options like Website builders and now some web developer firms refuse to handle emails.
With IMAP the playing field has changed simply because of the volume of emails stored and the lack of knowledge of some users.
Web sites take up very little space and resources on a server.
Emails now take a huge amount of resource, especially people who check emails more than 60 times per hour.

We have had to rethink this trend in the marketplace.
It’s like website builders taking the cream and leaving other people with the intensive support side of the web to handle.
We used to offer an email only plan based on a POP3 usage.
We can no longer offer that plan when IMAP is used.

If you use a website builder and you want us to keep hosting the email side of your business, the plan you are on will stay the same, depending on the volume of storage you have used on the server.
This is effective as from the 1st of October 2016.